


under a blanket of blue.

by heavenhearted



Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Mermaid Wong Kun Hang | Hendery, Slow Burn, sooo mushy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26932036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavenhearted/pseuds/heavenhearted
Summary: on the brink of death, salvation comes to you in the form of a beautiful boy with a tail.
Relationships: Wong Kun Hang | Hendery/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	under a blanket of blue.

**Author's Note:**

> title from [under a blanket of blue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yze147TmBKQ&ab_channel=DaianeJances).
> 
> listen as you read, if you please.

you’ve never been so afraid, never before in your life has your heart pounded out of your chest like this. you’ve run your situation through your head a thousand times, but there’s no solution. no answer. no way out. you’re going to drown.

the man (dare you call him a pirate) backing you toward the side of the ship sneers. “worthless girl,” he spits. literally spits. you feel it hit your cheek. “not even worth a small ransom. nobody cares enough about you to give us enough money to survive, eh?” the sheer look of disgust he throws you makes you feel small. “you were a waste of time. even now, you’re a waste of air.” you feel your bound hands hit the railing, the heavy ball and chain clinking against the metal. nowhere left to go. 

you don’t really know how this happened. you remember being on the beach with your mother. the two of you were working on the docks, and you finished cleaning your small boat early. ‘i won’t be long,” she’d promised you, still cutting and cleaning fish. “go wait by the shore for me, okay?”

you’d smiled at her, happy to have a chance to be by the sea. it had always been a second home to you, a haven. you had only been lounging on the beach for a few minutes, sitting with your legs tucked into your body, watching the waves caress the sand before a hand clamped over your mouth and you were being carried away. this is your seventh day on this ship, much larger and rattier than your own, with only stale crackers and small cups of freshwater to keep you alive. alive enough to warrant a ransom. a ransom that would never come. and your time is up.

funny how the sea, your safe place, would end up being your grave. you just hoped that your body wouldn’t wash up on the shore for your mother to see. 

you can’t even bring yourself to say anything back. it wouldn’t come out well, with the cloth tied around your head and stuffed in your mouth, but you could try. but you don’t. it’s not worth it.

the man cocks a thick brow, surprised at your silence. but you won’t let your last words be for him. “mother,” you whisper, quiet enough that he can’t hear. “i’m sorry. i love you.”

the man thrusts his leg out, kicking you in the stomach, and the force sends you over the edge. you can only take one last breath before you’re submerged.

even if you could tell which was was up, the ball pulls you down, down, down. you’re frantically kicking, trying desperately to break the surface, to get back to air, to get the hell out of this ocean. but there’s truly nothing you can do.

a rush of bubbles fly from your mouth as you cry out in frustration and despair and fear. you see the sunlight coming in from above. you close your eyes.

and you feel yourself being moved.

you must already be dead.

there’s no other explanation for the boy that’s tugging the chains off from around your wrists.

through your haze of confusion and water filling you from the outside in, you can make out a concentrated expression, odd markings on each side of his neck, scales climbing up his bare torso.

a tail.

long and shimmering and beautiful, the color of his scales shifting between green and blue and yellow with each movement. you know you’re hallucinating and dying, because this isn’t real. there is no way this can possibly be real.

but you feel the rusty metal chafe against your skin as he finally gets the chains off you, you can feel the way he pulls you to his chest before shooting off towards the surface so fast that you would think there was a motor attached to his back if you hadn’t seen that tail. that beautiful tail … 

you’re going, now, really going. at least you got to see a beautiful mermaid boy before you died. you just wish you could tell your mother about him.

and then you feel it.

water being coerced out of your lungs, coming back up your throat. you’re coughing it back up as he hoists you above water. 

you gulp down air like never before, heart on overdrive to spread the oxygen through your body. you’re heaving and sobbing and quaking, shivering so badly that you feel like you’ve been set to vibrate.

but you’re _alive_.

which reminds you.

you open your eyes.

the boy is cradling you, treading water with ease and keeping you afloat. his hand is pressed to your chest, over your lungs, and his eyebrows are furrowed with concern.

you didn’t have time before to process how beautiful he is. 

a mess of long, thick black hair, already curling as it begins to dry, dark brown eyes like shiny marbles, pink lips shaped cutely even in the frown he’s wearing. he has a string of mismatched blue stones and beads tied around his neck.

he’s the most gorgeous thing you’ve ever laid eyes on.

“a-ah,” you try to say, testing your throat to see if you can speak. “i … thank you.” it’s more of a croak than anything, but it comes out.

a huge smile spreads across the boy’s face. a dimple appears on his cheek.

your heart skips a beat.

he points to you and makes the okay sign with his fingers, a question in his eyes. he can’t speak above water, you realize.

“okay?” you clarify, and he nods. “yes, i’m okay. now. you saved me.”

he shrugs, like it’s no big deal.

“thank you,” you say again. you don’t know if you’ll ever stop saying it. “what’s your name?”

he pauses. he takes your hand and traces a ‘k’ on the back.

k-u-n-h-a-n-g, he spells out. 

“kunhang?” you ask, hoping you say it right.

he nods, smile reaching his eyes and lighting up his whole face.

“thank you, kunhang,” you say once more. properly.

he brushes your hair from your forehead, gaze soft when he meets your eyes.

he pulls you along for a few minutes, swimming much slower than you (already) know him to be capable of. he nudges your body on top of his, guiding you to rest on his chest. with his arms wrapped around you to secure you, he propels the two of you along with his tail. you play a game of yes or no over the soft sound of his fin splashing.

 _are you a mermaid?_ nod. _are there more of you?_ nod. _can you breathe above water?_ nod. _do you need to be in the water to survive?_ he tilts his head to the side for that one. “it’s complicated?” you ask. nod.

after what seems like a little over half an hour, he seems to find what he’s looking for. a wooden raft, floating along. abandoned. you don’t wanna know the story behind it.

he lifts you onto it with ease. you can’t believe how good it feels to be out of the water. you let out a deep sigh, and he looks at you fondly before pointing down to the water.

“you have to go?” you say, immediately saddened. his company makes you feel a hundred times better. 

he nods, and holds up a finger, the universal signal for _be right back_.

“you’ll be able to find me again?”

he looks at you like he’s almost offended that you could even doubt him. 

you laugh a little, strained. your vocal chords are still kind of messed up. “okay, kunhang. thank you again.”

he softens when you say his name. he tugs at your hand and holds it tenderly before kissing your palm and diving back underwater.

honestly, it’s probably good that he leaves you alone with your thoughts. you need some time to process all that. 

you thought you were going to die. you really did. it seemed like the only possible outcome. but against all odds, you were saved. by a mermaid. merman? you aren’t clear on the terminology. but that doesn’t matter. they’re real, he is real. you shift onto your side and find your eyelids drooping. you have to figure out how the hell to get back to land, but you’ll think about that later. for now, you decide to have a little nap until kunhang comes back. you drift off easily, soothed by the thought of warm hands skirting along your arm. 

you awaken to fingers in your hair, carefully detangling the knots. 

you hum at the feeling, kunhang’s careful hands running down your strands and undoing the damage caused by your flailing. “hi,” you greet him softly.

he smiles patiently, a greeting of his own.

“you haven’t been waiting for me to wake up long, have you?”

he shakes his head, giving your head a gentle pat. from his other hand, he produces a small woven sack. you quirk an eyebrow.

he fishes out what looks to be fruit, two of them, like nothing you’ve ever seen before. dark pink in color but long, the shape almost reminds you of an eggplant. he holds them out to you.

_oh._

“these are for me?” you ask, shocked.

he nods enthusiastically, smile big enough to draw out his dimple. 

“thank you,” you breathe, taking one fruit in each hand. what on earth did you do to deserve such an … such an angel looking after you? you look down at the fruits dumbly. “um, how do i …?”

he makes a small sound in the back of his throat, realizing you’ve never seen these things before. it’s the first noise you’ve heard him make, deep and rumbling, and it almost makes you flush. you take a second to mourn that you’ll never hear him speak. you know it would sound beautiful.

kunhang takes one of the fruits, your hand still around it, and guides your fingers to the pointy seam at the top. he aligns your thumbnail on it, encouraging you to press in and peel down. it reminds you of a banana. he keeps his other hand on your knee as he carefully watches you peel the whole thing, clapping happily when you get it. he does the other one for you, fingers expertly flying over the skin and peeling it flawlessly in seconds, like he’s done it a thousand times. he probably has.

he hands the other fruit to you and goes digging in his bag again. you take a hesitant bite of the flesh, not really knowing what to expect. it’s softer than you expected, but still sweet, the taste similar to honeydew. you decide you love it and take several more bites.

kunhang grins wider when he looks back up at you, flashing a thumbs up with eyebrows raised. you nod. “it’s delicious,” you assure him, mumbling because your mouth’s full. “thank you.”

he waves you off, placing what looks to be a vial on your raft beside you. you lay one of the fruits in your lap to pick it up, holding it close to your eyes and moving it side to side. it’s fairly big, and seems to be filled with liquid. you look at kunhang quizzically.

he takes the vial from you and holds it up to his lips, miming drinking it.

your eyes bulge.

“is this freshwater?”

kunhang bites his lip, eyes sparkling, and nods.

you look between him and the vial, totally confused. “where did you get this?”

he breathes out quickly through his nose (a laugh?) and takes your hand, tracing letters on the back again as you use your free hand to down the water. h-o-m-e.

“home?” you ask once it’s empty.

he points down to the water.

“... down there?”

he smiles.

you take a few more bites of fruit, and wow, it gets better every time you taste it. “so, you have fruit and fresh water down there. somehow. do you live in a town?”

he scrunches up his nose, holding out his hand and tilting it. kind of.

“is it more like a city?”

he nods, looking up like he’s trying to figure out how to mime this to me. he points to the crown of his head.

ah.

“a kingdom?”

his huge smile tells you yes.

you try to imagine an underwater kingdom, a paradise like that. “it must be gorgeous.”

he pauses. he stares at your raft for a second before pointing to it. the spot beside you.

“o-oh,” you stutter. “yes, of course.”

he beams before placing his hands on it, lifting his weight onto it a small bit to test it. it’s a fairly sized raft, it barely tips. he hoists himself up the whole way this time, positioning himself next to you, his beautiful tail hanging over the edge of the raft.

now that he’s in front of you, you’re a bit more intimidated. you didn’t notice when you were in water, but he’s quite a bit bigger than you in frame, like he could completely envelop you in his arms if he wanted. his eyes are earnest and his smile is genuine. “hi,” you whisper.

he flutters his fingers at you in greeting. he takes your hand for the third time -- this time you notice how it completely dwarfs yours -- and goes back to tracing.

p-a-l-a-c-e

“a palace?” 

he sighs, a wistful look on his face. it sends a shiver down your back. you hope he doesn’t notice. 

he tells you about the kingdom at first; g-a-r-d-e-n-s, m-a-g-i-c, p-e-o-p-l-e. then he starts telling you about him.

b-r-o-t-h-e-r-s

“brothers?” you ask.

it’s the happiest you’ve seen him this whole time. you can tell he adores them.

“how many?”

he holds up six fingers.

“six?! oh wow, that’s a lot of boys. you all get along?”

he nods more shyly, and brings his hand to his heart. _i love them,_ you understand.

it makes you sigh. “you’re very lucky. i never had any siblings, but i always wanted them. it was always just my mother and i.”

he looks saddened by this. you imagine it’s hard to him to consider a life without constant companions.

you take his hand this time, much to his surprise. you think about how impossible all this seems, that you’re here with him, and you trace lines across his fingers. “i wish i could visit your kingdom, kunhang.”

he frowns but nods. he points back down, and then to himself, and then opens his mouth wide.

“you can talk down there, yeah.”

he shakes his head, tracing once again.

s-i-n-g

“you sing?” you breathe.

he nods, smile much more timid.

you’re bitter. you want to see his world, but more than anything, you want to talk to him and have him talk right back, hear him laugh, hear him sing. “could i hear you sing if we were underwater?”

he presses his lips into a line and shakes his head. his hands come up to cover your ears.

“i couldn’t hear it?”

he shakes his head again. 

“oh,” you say. you wanted to at least try.

somewhere along the way, nightfall had come, and the two of you were seated under the stars. it was clear both of you were tired, you started to lean against each other, but you didn’t want him to go, and you didn’t think he did, either.

“you’ll have to go home soon, yeah?”

he nods, eyes lidded.

“thank you for everything,” you mumble, grateful tears slipping from your eyes as you let the reality of your day wash over you. “you didn’t have to save me, but you did, and then you bring me food and water, you stay here and talk to me even though you have a beautiful underwater kingdom to return to … i don’t deserve all that.” you stop, staring at your feet. “i owe you my life and more, kunhang.”

he nudges you a little to get your attention and shakes his head. you can see in his eyes that there’s so much he wants to say.

he traces another word.

n-a-m-e

“oh my god,” you blurt, “i’m an idiot. i’m sorry. my name is y/n.”

he grins. p-r-e-t-t-y

“not nearly as pretty as kunhang, though,” you quickly revise

he’s still pouting.

“i mean it,” you coo, taking his hand again. “your name is beautiful. almost as much so as you.”

and then something magical happens.

a blush coats his cheeks, but it’s bursting with color, the same dark pinks and yellows as his tail.

“wow,” is all you can say. he's unfairly gorgeous.

he rubs his cheeks like it’ll make his blush fade. when it doesn’t work, he takes your hand once more.

t-o-m-o-r-r-o-w

you brighten considerably.

“you’ll come back?” you ask, your voice thick with hope.

he nods like it was obvious. maybe it was.

“okay, kunhang,” you murmur, looking at him tentatively as you scoot closer to him. you don’t want to offend him. he doesn’t stop you as you nestle yourself in his chest and wrap your arms around his torso. “thank you for everything.”

his hands wind around to your back, pressing you close. you can hear his heartbeat, feel the breath going in and out of him. when you separate, he smooths a hand over your head and leans close to press a quick kiss to your lips. before you can thank him or wish him good night, he’s back in the water and gone with a flourish of peach and orange.

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](https://lilycafe.tumblr.com).


End file.
